Multiple electronic devices are increasingly connected together to communicate. In one example, entertainment and multi-media devices may be interconnected to transfer or share digital information. The connection of such devices generally requires some form of standard bus or interface to allow the devices to easily connect and communicate with each other.
In one example, the HDMI™ (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) provides an interface that allows for the transfer of uncompressed digital high-definition video and audio, together with associated control signals. (HDMI is a trademark of HDMI Licensing, LLC) HDMI™ includes the High-Definition Multimedia Interface 1.3 (Hitachi, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Philips Consumer Electronics, International B.V., Silicon Image, Inc., Sony Corporation, Thomson Inc., and Toshiba Corporation) (Jun. 22, 2006), as well as earlier versions of HDMI™ Multimedia devices may include any devices capable of providing, storing, or displaying multimedia data, including television monitors, cable and satellite set-top boxes, video players, including DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), HD (High-Definition) DVD, and Blu-Ray players, audio players, digital video recorders, and other similar devices. HDMI™ devices utilize TMDS™ (Transition Minimized Differential Signaling) technology. TMDS™ encoding converts 8 bits per TMDS data channel into a 10-bit DC-balanced, transition minimized sequence, which is then transmitted serially across the pair at a rate of 10 bits per TMDS™ clock period. An HDMI™ connection may include a DDC (Display Data Channel) for configuration and status exchange between a source device and a sink device, and an optional CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) protocol to provide high-level control functions among audiovisual products in a user's environment.
However, the types of electronic devices that are capable of holding and utilizing large quantities of digital data have expanded as the memory capacity and processing power of devices has risen. Such media devices may be mobile or handheld. However, a mobile device may utilize a different type of connection than a standard device because of the smaller physical size. If various types of devices need to exchange data such as media data, a device that is transmitting or receiving such data may be required to identify the type of device or devices that are involved in the data transfer.